District Attorney Jared Williams is among prosecutors who announced Friday, June 24, they will not be pursuing criminal charges against women and healthcare providers over decisions on abortions.
Williams, the chief prosecutor for the Augusta Judicial Circuit of Richmond and Burke counties, released a statement Friday stating his position that he will instead continue to focus his efforts on combating violent crimes in the communities he serves.
“Until our community is rid of violent crime and sexual predators, I will not expend our limited resources to prosecute women and their doctors for personal healthcare decisions,” he said.
Georgia legislators in 2019 were among those in several states who sought to severely curtail the possibility of abortions in the state by imposing “heartbeat bill” that outlaw abortions once a heartbeat can be detected, which usually occurs at about six weeks. Georgia’s law has been on appeal like the others before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Friday in the similar Mississippi case.
In response to that Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, members of the Fair and Just Prosecutions released a statement condemning the decision and stating they would not be prosecuting women and healthcare professionals over decisions involving reproductive health.
“As elected prosecutors, ministers of justice, and leaders in our communities, we cannot stand by and allow members of our community to live in fear of the ramifications of this deeply troubling decision,” the statement begins.
“Not all of us agree on a personal or moral level on the issue of abortion. But we stand together in our firm belief that prosecutors have a responsibility to refrain from using limited criminal legal system resources to criminalize personal medical decisions. As such, we decline to use our offices’ resources to criminalize reproductive health decisions and commit to exercise our wellsettled discretion and refrain from prosecuting those who seek, provide, or support abortions,” the statement continues.
The statement was issued on behalf of more than 80 prosecutors, seven serving judicial circuits in Georgia.
District Attorney Bobby Christine of the Columbia County Judicial Circuit said Friday his position will be defined by the law in Georgia.
The Just and Fair Prosecution group’s statement reads further, “Abortion bans will also disproportionately harm victims of sexual abuse, rape, incest, human trafficking, and domestic violence … not all victims of such crimes are able or willing to immediately report, and that delays in reporting or a reticence to report are consistent with the experience of trauma.
“We are horrified that some states have failed to carve out exceptions for victims of sexual violence and incest in their abortion restrictions; this is unconscionable. And, even where such exceptions do exist, abortion bans still threaten the autonomy, dignity, and safety of survivors, forcing them to choose between reporting their abuse or being connected to their abuser for life.
“Our obligation to exercise our discretion wisely requires us to focus prosecutorial resources on the child molester or rapist, not on prosecuting the victim or the healthcare professionals who provide that victim with needed care and treatment.
“Keeping communities safe inherently requires promoting trust and faith in the integrity of the rule of law. To best promote public safety, prosecutors must be perceived by their communities as trustworthy, legitimate, and fair — values that would be undermined by the enforcement of laws that criminalize deeply personal decisions, harm those most in need of our help, and force unnecessarily difficult and traumatizing decisions on many in our community.”
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.Â
